On a great night for 'The Band's Visit,' Tony Awards honor Chicago's David Cromer and Laurie Metcalf

“The Band’s Visit,” the wry, sad and moving new musical helmed by David Cromer of Skokie — unarguably the leading auteur stage director to emerge from the Chicago theater in a generation— triumphed Sunday night at the Tony Awards, as did Cromer himself, winning his first Tony Award of a multi-decade career dedicated to struggling characters who find themselves on life’s margins.

And — in something of a surprise — Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member and “Roseanne” star Laurie Metcalf capped off an extraordinary career renaissance by winning a Tony for best featured actress in a play for her illuminative work at the core of Joe Mantello’s widely acclaimed revival of Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women.” The 82-year-old star of her show, the veteran British actress and government official Glenda Jackson, also found herself on the winner’s podium at Radio City Music Hall.

“The Band’s Visit,” based on a relatively obscure 2007 Israeli film by Eran Kolirin about an Egyptian police band lost in a small Israeli town, had an exceptional night, taking home Tony Awards for its composer David Yazbek, its book-writer Itamar Moses (who beat out the favored Tina Fey), its featured actor, Ari’el Stachel and its two leading performers, Tony Shalhoub and the Chicago-born Katrina Lenk, a graduate of Northwestern University.

The dominance of “The Band’s Visit” was widely expected, as was that of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” a dramatic sequel to the iconic series of books that imagines Harry Potter with a Hogwarts-bound son of his own. The epic and expansive British import — which looks set to be a multihour fixture off Times Square for decades — won the Tony Award for best new play and honors for its British director, John Tiffany.

The Tony for best revival of a musical — a category that generated suspense — was won by the musical “Once On This Island,” beating out the beefier Lincoln Center revival of “My Fair Lady” and the Broadway revival of “Carousel,” which may have split the vote for classic musicals. However, “Carousel” choreographer Justin Peck won the Tony, and cast member Lindsay Mendez won the the Tony for best supporting actress.

In her acceptance speech, telling Tony hopefuls to be true to themselves, Mendez said that when she had first moved to New York, she had been told she would need to change her name. Her presence at the podium proved that was lousy advice.

Bruce Springsteen, the recipient of a special Tony Award and perhaps the most famous name inside Radio City Music Hall, was introduced by his friend Billy Joel. “The boss,” said Joel, noting Springsteen’s hundreds of sold-out performances, “is working hard.”

“Thanks for making me so welcome on your block,” Springsteen said, accepting his award for his phenomenally successful solo show. His performance toward the end of the broadcast was introduced by his friend Robert De Niro, who used an expletive in the context of the president of the United States. He was bleeped out.

Andrew Garfield, the star of the revival of “Angels in America,” the winner of the Tony Award for best revival of a play, beat out a starry group of best-actor-in a-play nominees. Garfield’s early victory allowed the TV broadcast to begin with a familiar face from the movie “Spider-Man,” ideal for younger viewers who then got to see both Fey and a scene from her nominated musical, “Mean Girls.”

“We are all scared, and we all belong,” Garfield said, accepting his award, with a Twitter-ready declaration. “So let’s just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked.”

Nathan Lane, the longtime Broadway star who played the famously caustic dramatic role of Roy Cohn in “Angels,” took home a Tony for best featured actor in a play.

Just one year after Kevin Spacey served as an oft acerbic and self-serving host, the kinder, gentler 2018 broadcast abandoned caustic satire (some mocking of accountants aside) and stuck to themes of inclusion and diversity, encouraging viewers to take to social media and post photos of themselves “Broadway dreaming,” with presenters also showing off their early head shots on the set, echoing the current Facebook trend.

Once aloof and elitist, Broadway has in recent years overtly embraced its connection to the college and high school theater productions that dot the nation, often packed with newly cool Broadway geeks and devoted audience members.

A teacher from one of those schools, Melody Herzfeld of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, was given special recognition for her courage during the February shootings, as were the students who make up her drama department and who took the stage to sing “Seasons of Love” from “Rent,” clearly moving the hardened professionals watching. Even Springsteen could be seen nodding his head in time with the music.

“Your biggest obstacle,” said Stachel of “The Band’s Visit,” addressing young artists all across the nation, “may turn out to be your purpose.”

Advertisement

Joined with the oft-unsung ensemble members from the current shows on Broadway, genial Tony co-hosts Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles (the best singers of any Tony hosts in history) began the broadcast with a atypically emotional song dedicated, they said, to those who could not imagine winning a Tony Award. They said they were uniquely qualified, having never won any awards themselves.